Basketball: Boston College's Bowman making programs regret passing on him

Wednesday

Jan 25, 2017 at 4:42 PMJan 25, 2017 at 7:38 PM

Havelock native scored 33 Sunday vs. UNC

Adam Thompson, Sports Editor

Ky Bowman had every intention on playing basketball at East Carolina.

The Pirates were the first Division-I program to provide the high-flying Havelock native a scholarship offer.

Bowman, now shining in his freshman year at Boston College, wanted to commit to ECU in August ahead of his senior year of high school.

“(Kyran) called and texted me and said I want to be a Pirate,” said Havelock basketball coach Daniel Griffee. “I told him to call Coach (Jeff) Lebo and I thought it would be a good choice. He told me he called coach Lebo and (assistant) Coach (Ken) Potosnak and neither one of them answered the phone or returned his text.

“He tried to commit but neither one of them answered the phone.”

Bowman was turned down, denied and wasn’t on the radar for most of the in-state schools.

The 6-foot-1 guard is showing those programs what they are missing out on.

Bowman is averaging 13.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in his first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, playing for Coach Jim Christian at Boston College.

He’s been named ACC Freshman of the Week twice this season. He’s one of three players in the nation to score more than 30 points in three separate games.

Bowman poured in 33 points, with seven 3-pointers, in this past Saturday’s 90-82 loss to No. 9 North Carolina and netted 19 points in a 93-82 loss at Duke and 19 points in a 74-66 win over N.C. State.

“East Carolina was the first school that offered him. They offered him in May of his junior year and they recruited him pretty heavy. He actually wanted to commit to East Carolina,” Griffee said.

“It kind of went quiet from September to February.”

Everyone in Havelock knew Bowman as that dynamic, superstar talent that could take over a basketball game in a flash. He posted 43 points in the NCHSAA 3-A East Regionals against Terry Sanford – his final high school game.

The former two-sport standout with the Rams was once a North Carolina Tar Heel football recruit as a wide receiver.

But basketball has always been his first passion, and he had hoped to play both sports in Chapel Hill.

“Kyran wanted to play basketball,” Griffee said. “The only reason I think he committed for football was because he was told he’d be given the opportunity to play basketball. He loved Carolina, but since he thought he’d get a chance to play basketball at Carolina, that’s why he committed.”

When Griffee spoke with North Carolina assistant basketball coach Hubert Davis, Davis said he had never heard of Bowman, but would put him on their radar.

But the Tar Heels were trying to lure in Columbia, S.C. native Seventh Woods.

Bowman de-committed from North Carolina’s football offer, stopped playing football at Havelock High and turned his full attention to the hardwood.

He played AAU basketball and traveled the country in the summer prior to his senior year of high school with John Wall’s-sponsored team.

“North Carolina, the day after he de-committed from football, I called and talked to Hubert Davis. When I told Hubert that I had a kid that had a scholarship offer for football, but he was also told he’d have a spot on the basketball team, Hubert Davis told me that he had never heard of Kyran Bowman, but since I made contact with him that he would be on their radar,” Griffee said.

“I didn’t hear anything from Carolina while Kyran was playing AAU ball.”

Interest in Bowman soared and Griffee continued to send highlight film to colleges, including every school in North Carolina.

At first, he was only offered by ECU, N.C. Central and UNC-Asheville. Charlotte, Wake Forest, North Carolina and N.C. State chased other players.

“Wake Forest assistant coach told me that he was athletic enough, but wasn’t skilled enough to play in the ACC. N.C. State, (assistant) coach (Bobby) Lutz told me that since they had Dennis Smith and Torin Dorn transferring from Charlotte that they didn’t need a guard in that class, and if they had someone transfer out that they would contact me,” Griffee said.

Boston College head coach Jim Christian watched Bowman play personally at a game at White Oak High School in Jacksonville in February of Bowman’s senior year, and assistant coach Scott Spinelli saw him play on Senior Night against West Craven.

Bowman committed to play at Boston College on March 31, 2016.

Once Boston College offered, the offers and interest flooded in, from South Carolina, Tulsa, Missouri, Cincinnati, Tennessee, Georgia, Georgetown, Mississippi, Vanderbilt and California, among others.

Bowman narrowed his top five to Boston College, South Carolina, Memphis, Cincinnati and California.

“Coach Christian told me that this is a hard job to do if you slide down to come see a kid and he’s not what you expect, but he said he stayed around the whole night because I loved everything about him,” Griffee said. “All these schools had chances at him, but Boston College was the only one that took advantage of it.”

Boston College, which posted a 7-25 overall record last season and 0-18 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference, pushed hard.

The Eagles own a 9-11 record ahead of Wednesday’s conference contest at Miami.

After Bowman scorched North Carolina for 33 points, Tar Heels’ coach Roy Williams was asked if he recalled talking to football coach Larry Fedora about the possibility of him playing both sports.

“I’m fairly certain that I'm (remembering) the right guy,” Williams said. “At that point they told me he was going to be a great, great receiver. So I was going to do whatever I needed to do to help us get the youngster.

“Tell Larry he needs to do a doggone better job of recruiting.”

Adam Thompson is the Sports Editor at the Sun Journal. He can be contacted at 252-635-5669. Follow Adam on Twitter @A_ThompsonNBSJ

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